Network-based mail attachment storage system and method

• US 6,505,236 B1
• Filed: 04/30/1999
• Issued: 01/07/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: MEC Management, LLC (Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota)
• Original Assignee: Thinmail, Inc.
• Inventors: Pollack, Jordan
• Primary Examiner(s): Barot, Bharat
• Application Number:
  US09/302,877
• Time in Patent Office: 1,348 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200-203, 709/206-207, 709/213, 709/217-219, 709/229, 709/232, 709/238, 709/245-246, 707/10, 707/104, 707/513, 707/522-523
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

A network-based mail attachment storage system and method for: receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a forwarding specification and an attachment; detaching the attachment from the electronic mail item; storing the attachment on a storage device at a specific address under a specific file name; generating a handle corresponding to the specific address and the specific file name; appending the electronic mail item to include the handle; and transmitting in accordance with the forwarding specification the appended electronic mail item, including the handle but excluding the stored attachment.

Claims

1. A network-based mail attachment storage system comprising:

a receiving portal distinct from an e-mail server of a recipient for receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a two-part forwarding specification which arrives at said receiving portal and embeds the e-mail address of said recipient into an e-mail address at said receiving portal, and an attachment;

an attachment stripper for detaching said attachment from said electronic mail item;

a storage device for storing said stripped attachment at a specific address under a specific file name;

a handle generator for generating a handle corresponding to said address and file name which allows access to said attachment stored at said specific address under said specific file name;

a handle appender for appending said handle to said electronic mail item;

a parser for extracting said e-mail address of said recipient from said two-part forwarding specification; and

a transmitting portal distinct from an e-mail server of a sender for transmitting to said recipient said appended electronic mail item including said handle but excluding said stored attachment.

2. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 1 further including a parser for extracting a recipient address from said forwarding specification.

3. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 2 further including an attachment retriever for enabling said recipient to retrieve, at a later date, said stored attachment stored under said specific file name at said specific address via said handle.

4. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 3 further including a policy interpreter for determining if said recipient is to be charged a fee for retrieving said stored attachments.

5. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 3 further including a sender notifier for notifying said sender when said recipient retrieved said stored attachment.

6. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 1 further including a deletion timer for calculating a deletion time after which said stored attachment is to be deleted.

7. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 6 further including an, attachment deleter for deleting said stored attachment upon the expiration of said deletion time.

8. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 1 further including an attachment comparator which compares said stored attachment to previously-stored attachments to determine if any attachments are identical.

9. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 8 further including a redundancy deleter which deletes said stored attachment when it is identical to a previously-stored attachment.

10. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 9 further including a handle redirector for redirecting the handle pointing to said deleted attachment so that it points to said identical previously-stored attachment.

11. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 1 in which said handle is a uniform resource locator.

12. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 1 in which said storage device is chosen from the group consisting of hard drives, optical drives, random access memories, tape drives and RAID arrays.

13. A network-based mail attachment storage method comprising the steps of:

receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a two-part forwarding specification which identifies the e-mail address of a recipient, and an attachment;

detaching said attachment from said electronic mail item;

storing said attachment on a storage device at a specific address under a specific file name;

generating a handle corresponding to said specific address and said specific file name;

appending said electronic mail item to include said handle;

parsing said two-part forwarding specification to extract said e-mail address of said recipient; and

transmitting to said recipient said appended electronic mail item including said handle but excluding said stored attachment.

14. The network-based mail attachment storage method of claim 13 further including the step of calculating a deletion time upon which the stored attachment is to be deleted.

15. The network-based mail attachment storage method of claim 14 further including the step of deleting said stored attachment upon the expiration of said deletion time.

16. The network-based mail attachment storage method of claim 15 wherein the step of receiving further includes a recipient address in said forwarding specification, the method further including the step of notifying said sender when said recipient retrieved said stored attachment.

17. A computer readable medium having a plurality of instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause that processor to perform the steps of:

receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a two-part forwarding specification which identifies the e-mail address of a recipient, and an attachment;

detaching said attachment from said electronic mail item;

storing said attachment on a storage device at a specific address under a specific file name;

generating a handle corresponding to said specific address and said specific file name;

appending said electronic mail item to include said handle;

parsing said two-part forwarding specification to extract said e-mail address of said recipient; and

transmitting to said recipient said appended electronic mail item including said handle but excluding said stored attachment.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 in which said computer readable medium is a hard drive.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 17 in which said computer readable medium is a read-only memory.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 17 in which said computer readable medium is a random-access memory.

21. A processor and memory configured to perform the steps of:

receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a two-part forwarding specification which identifies the e-mail address of a recipient, and an attachment;

detaching said attachment from said electronic mail item;

storing said attachment on a storage device at a specific address under a specific file name;

generating a handle corresponding to said specific address and said specific file name;

appending said electronic mail item to include said handle;

parsing said two-part forwarding specification to extract said e-mail address of said recipient; and

transmitting to said recipient said appended electronic mail item including said handle but excluding said stored attachment.

22. The processor and memory of claim 21 in which said processor and memory are incorporated into a personal computer.

23. The processor and memory of claim 21 in which said processor and memory are incorporated into a programmable logic controller.

24. The processor and memory of claim 21 in which said processor and memory are incorporated into a single board computer.

25. The processor and memory of claim 21 in which said processor and memory are incorporated into an array of network servers.

26. A network-based mail attachment storage system comprising:

a receiving portal for receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a two-part forwarding specification which arrives at said receiving portal and embeds the e-mail address of said recipient into an e-mail address at said receiving portal, and an attachment;

an attachment stripper for detaching said attachment from said electronic mail item;

a storage device for storing said stripped attachment at a specific address under a specific file name;

a handle generator for generating a handle corresponding to said address and file name which allows access to said attachment stored at said specific address under said specific file name;

a handle appender for appending said handle to said electronic mail item;

a parser for extracting said e-mail address of said recipient from said two-part forwarding specification;

a transmitting portal distinct from an e-mail server of a sender for transmitting to said recipient said appended electronic mail item including said handle but excluding said stored attachment; and

an attachment comparator which compares said stored attachment to previously-stored attachments to determine if any attachments are identical.

27. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 26 further including a redundancy deleter which deletes said stored attachment when it is identical to a previously-stored attachment.

28. The network-based mail attachment storage system of claim 27 further including a handle redirector for redirecting the handle pointing to said deleted attachment so that it points to said identical previously-stored attachment.

29. A network-based mail attachment storage system for transmitting electronic mail items from a sender'"'"'s e-mail server to a recipient'"'"'s e-mail server, the system comprising:

a receiving portal remote from both the e-mail server of the sender and the e-mail server of the recipient for receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a two-part forwarding specification which embeds the e-mail address of said recipient into an e-mail address at said receiving portal, and an attachment;

an attachment stripper operable on the receiving portal for detaching said attachment from said electronic mail item;

a storage device operable on the receiving portal for storing said stripped attachment at a specific address under a specific file name;

a handle generator operable on the receiving portal for generating a handle corresponding to said address and file name which allows the recipient access to said attachment stored at said specific address under said specific file name;

a handle appender for appending said handle to said electronic mail item; and

a parser for extracting said e-mail address of said recipient from said two-part forwarding specification; and

a transmitting portal distinct from an e-mail server of a sender for transmitting to said recipient said appended electronic mail item including said handle but excluding said stored attachment.

30. A network-based mail attachment storage system for transmitting electronic mail items from a sender'"'"'s e-mail server to a recipient'"'"'s e-mail server, the system comprising:

a receiving portal having an e-mail address for receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a two-part forwarding specification comprising both the e-mail address of the recipient and the e-mail address of the receiving portal and configured to intercept the electronic mail and attachment before it is received by the recipient;

an attachment stripper for detaching said attachment from said electronic mail item;

a storage device for storing said stripped attachment at a specific address under a specific file name;

a handle generator for generating a handle corresponding to said address and said file name which allows the recipient access to said attachment stored at said specific address under said specific file name;

a handle appender for appending said handle to said electronic mail item;

a parser for extracting said e-mail address of said recipient from said two-part forwarding specification; and

a transmitting portal distinct from an e-mail server of a sender for transmitting to said recipient said appended electronic mail item including said handle but excluding said stored attachment.

31. A network-based mail attachment storage system for transmitting electronic mail items from a sender'"'"'s e-mail server to a recipient'"'"'s e-mail server, the system comprising:

a receiving portal having an e-mail address and located remote from both the e-mail server of the sender and the e-mail server of the recipient for receiving from a sender an electronic mail item which contains a two-part forwarding specification comprising both the e-mail address of the recipient and the e-mail address of the receiving portal and configured to intercept the electronic mail and attachment before it is received by the recipient;

an attachment stripper for detaching said attachment from said electronic mail item;

a storage device for storing said stripped attachment at a specific address under a specific file name;

a handle generator for generating a handle corresponding to said address and file name which allows the recipient access to said attachment stored at said specific address under said specific file name;

a handle appender for appending said handle to said electronic mail item;

a parser for extracting said e-mail address of said recipient from said two-part forwarding specification; and

a transmitting portal distinct from an e-mail server of a sender for transmitting to said recipient said appended electronic mail item including said handle but excluding said stored attachment.